This month, we look at a letter dated September 12, 1945, from Canadian Sr. Reggie McKenna of the Society of the Sacred Heart, describing life inside the Nagasaki Internment Camp in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. atomic bombing of the adjacent city.
Ltr R. McKenn from Nagaski Internment Camp 9.12.1945
Sister Reggie McKenna, RSCJ (1891-1970) was born in Montreal, Canada. In 1915 she entered the novitiate of the Society of the Sacred Heart in Albany, NY and in 1922 she professed her final vows in Rome. Sr. McKenna became a missionary to Japan in 1935 serving at the Sacred Heart School in Obayaski.
With the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japan declared war on the United States. At first, nothing happened to the sisters in Obayashi except for occasional visits by officials. But on September 23, 1942, twenty of the sisters were taken and interned at Eastern Lodge in Kobe. They had thought they might just be interned in their own convent. On July 1, 1943 the sisters were sent to a site on the outskirts of Nagasaki. There they experienced the bombing of Nagasaki by the U.S. Aug 9, 1945. Japan surrendered Aug 14, 1945.
On September 12, 1945, Sr. Reggie McKenna wrote to her family from the Nagaskai Internment Camp. Internees were beginning to be evacuated and there was an opportunity to send mail. Sr. McKenna wrote a long letter describing in great detail life over the years in the internment camp including the events August 9th when Nagasaki was bombed.
“At eleven o’clock as I was making my way down the hill with a huge bag of grass on my back, a heavy plane, although invisible seemed to be moving very slowly overhead….I looked up to see if it were visible, but quickly decided it would be better to run. I had only gone a few steps when there was a fearful explosion and everything was of a golden yellow.”
She continues describing the experience, the destruction and the fires. Most of those interned were safe because the internment camp was far enough away, but all were shaken. The camp suffered considerable damage.
Also in the archives are references to Japanese RSCJ, who were in the United States for some of their initial formation, being house-interned in U.S. communities and accounts of a Japanese-American RSCJ’s family being interned at Tanforan Race Track in northern California before she entered.
list of RSCJ from Obayashi interned
Contact:
Society of the Sacred Heart Archives
United States-Canada Province
4537 W Pine Blvd
St Louis, MO 63108
314-367-1704
[email protected]
